


Closer to Fine

by ThoseDaysThatWill



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: A little bit of angst, M/M, Winnipeg Jets, mostly in Brandon's head, overall it's fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 08:37:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18257687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseDaysThatWill/pseuds/ThoseDaysThatWill
Summary: On December 22, 2018, in their last game before the Christmas break, the Jets beat the Canucks, 1-0, in Vancouver.Adam Lowry (upper body) is wearing a regular jersey at Saturday's morning skate. Lowry was missing from Thursday's match after he took part in the morning skate, so it's unclear at this time if he will play tonight in Vancouver.He didn’t.





	Closer to Fine

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by Ju, with the prompt “How are you feeling today?”

When Adam hadn’t come into the locker room after the game, Brandon had wondered if he had left without him. Some of the guys were leaving right after the game, if they had Christmas break plans that were close by. A few teammates had also decided to fly out of Vancouver instead of bothering to go back to Winnipeg just to get on a plane. Those with kids were chattering about last minute shopping when they got back to Winnipeg. The whole room had that close-win high-energy buzz, but everyone was looking forward to a few days off, away from the rink, and spending the holidays with family. Brandon had tuned all of it out.

He hadn’t talked to Adam about what they were planning to do for the break, of course. Adam was spontaneous and Brandon was an over-thinker, meaning neither of them was exceptionally good at planning anything out beforehand. Brandon was well aware that Adam’s family lived really close to Vancouver, though. So of course, when he didn’t join the team after the game, Brandon worried that he’d just taken off for home from the press box. The whole time he was changing out of his gear, he was trying to think of what he was going to say when he called him. Because he was going to call him. He couldn’t blame him for leaving, they hadn’t talked about it. But all the same he was upset.

By the time he was ready to go, his mind had worked up all sorts of crazy thoughts, so when Brandon found Adam waiting in the hallway outside the locker room, he was honestly surprised. He nearly walked past him, as focused as he was on planning what he was going to say to him. He stopped short. By the looks of it, Adam had been in the hallway pacing the whole time. His tie had been loosened and the top button unbuttoned. He had the air of a caged tiger who was ready to pounce on the zookeeper the moment they opened the door. But he was there, waiting for him.

“You could have come in. Security wouldn’t have stopped you.” Brandon tried to offer a smile to hide how relieved he was, or that he had doubted him at all.

Adam flashed him a look that was as close to a glare as he had ever seen from him, “Took you long enough.”

Brandon sighed. Adam had spent the game being forced to sit in the press box, it was just about the worst thing you could do to someone like him. He’d played through many minor injuries just because he couldn’t sit still. Now missing his second game in a row meant the injury wasn’t playable and that said a lot. Brandon reached out a hand, touching his arm gently, “How are you feeling?” He asked carefully.

Adam nearly growled, “ _Fine_.”

Brandon’s first instinct was to pull away, but he fought through it and kept running his hand over Adam’s arm. He understood it was his injury he was angry at, not him. All the same, he tensed up, keeping his tone very even, “Still hurts?”

Adam nodded with a grunt, “Can we just _go_?”

Brandon looked at him, trying to remind himself that Adam’s sour mood was because he was hurt, and _nothing_ else. But his own personal insecurities were still floating around his head and they were getting harder to ignore the more Adam growled. Mentally, he shook his head. _He waited for you_ , he told himself, _if he didn’t want to be with you, he would have already left._

“Well…” Brandon began, slowly, “Chris… wanted to take us out to dinner….”

Adam sighed, “Oh yeah. You told me that. I swear I was listening, I just…” He sighed again, this time louder and longer. His eyes finally met Brandon’s and he frowned. His voice was soft, honestly apologetic, “Sorry, baby.”

It really was as easy as that for every harsh word to be washed away. He reached up to brush a few stray hairs back from Adam’s forehead, “You shouldn’t have been in a contact jersey at skate, should you?”

Adam made a face, but nodded, “Probably. It’ll be fine after Christmas, but…”

“But what?”

“It ruins _everything_ ,” Adam pouted.

Brandon discovered, with not all that much surprise, that Adam’s pout was the most adorable, endearing expression he had ever seen from him. He ducked his head down to hide the fact that he wanted to laugh, because he knew that it wouldn’t help Adam’s mood one bit. Once he could school his face properly, he looked back up at him, “What does it ruin?”

“I had… _plans_. No, _we_ had plans. And now, they’re ruined.” Adam’s tone was one step away from stomping his foot and crossing his arms. In fact, Brandon was sure his arms would have already been crossed, if that didn’t hurt. “And besides, I _like_ playing against the Canucks. It’s _fun_ to try to hit Chris! And my _family_ usually comes to watch and--”

Brandon cut him off, “Wait. We had plans?” Brandon tipped his head to the side, “Other than going out to dinner with Chris?”

Adam sighed yet again, “Well... kinda…”

“Were you going to tell me about these plans _we_ had?”

He frowned, “They were going to be a surprise, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. I was going to take you skiing. I found this really private place you can rent cabins, out of the way, way up in the middle of nowhere. And I thought we could just… go and, y’know, _be_.”

Putting aside what management would think of them going skiing in the middle of the season, Brandon smiled, “You _planned_ that?”

It was Adam’s turn to duck his head down, shyly, “I know our families want to see us, but I thought… just for like a couple days, we could just…” He huffed, “But it’s _ruined_ now.”

Brandon moved closer to him, lowering his voice, “A cabin, and a fireplace, and _you_? That’s _exactly_ what I asked Santa for.”

The beginnings of a smile quirked the corners of Adam’s lips, “Even if I can’t… _do_ as much?”

Brandon laughed, “We weren’t going to _actually_ go skiing anyway, because what you _can_ do, you’re going to be _doing_ the whole time we’re up there.”

That finally got a grin out of him, “Promise?”

He leaned up to kiss Adam’s cheek, reveling in the rough feeling of his beard against his lips, “I promise. Now can we go have dinner with my brother so we can cross that off our list of holiday obligations?”

Adam nodded, turning to walk towards the player exit with a much lighter step, “Yeah, Sarah has dibs on us tomorrow. But she said we can take Lawson skating!” He couldn’t help but notice the way Adam positively glowed when he talked about his nephews. It gave Brandon thoughts he had absolutely no business having.

“Does that mean we have to teach Kyle too?” Brandon tried not to roll his eyes, but Adam’s brother-in-law got… excited around the team.

Adam coughed over his laugh, “Be nice. He’s good to Sarah.”

Brandon held up his hands, “I’m nice _to_ him.”

“I know, I know.” Adam grabbed Brandon’s hand suddenly pulling him into a small alcove near the exit, “Chris is late, can we make out until he gets here?”

He laughed, running his hands over Adam’s arms. Brandon couldn’t help but appreciate the way the muscles felt under his hands, and at the same time it encouraged Adam to lean down enough that he could press their lips together. Brandon’s eyes slid shut and a soft moan escaped.

Chris would have to interrupt them when he got there. Or maybe, they’d catch him the next game.


End file.
